Many types of activities require that an individual or a machine move an implement in an attempt to successfully accomplish the end goal of participation in such activity. For example, when participating in any of several sporting games, an individual may be required to perform a swinging motion of any of several different implements, each of which is unique to a particular one of the games. Examples of such implements include a bat in the games of baseball and softball, a racket used in the games of tennis and racket ball, and a club used in the game of golf. The performance of a swinging motion of an implement is also required in certain non-sports or work environments such as, for example, the swinging of a maul. Additionally, a multitude of activities require that an individual or a machine move an implement in a non-swinging path to accomplish the end goal of the activity. For example, when writing or painting, an individual is required to move a pen or a brush in the attempt to contact a surface with the point of the pen or the bristles of the brush.
In any of the above-noted activities, an efficient and desired end result, achieved from the movement of the implement, is accomplished when the implement is moved in an ideal path. The ideal path may vary depending on the individual's or machine's height, build, and flexibility. If the individual or machine is aligned properly and is moving the implement at the proper speed along the ideal path, the end result will also be ideal.
In the game of golf, the implement consists of a golf club. Generally, a golf club includes a metal or non-metal-composite shaft having a club head attached to one end of the shaft and a gripping material, referred to as the grip, attached to the shaft at the other end thereof. The general object of the game is for the golfer, by use of the club, to cause a ball to be moved typically from an earthen mound, referred to as the tee, toward and into a small container, referred to as the cup, which is located in a carpet of short grass, referred to as the green, typically several hundred yards from the tee.
Generally, the golfer moves the ball from the tee toward the cup by (1) grasping the grip of the club with both hands, (2) addressing the ball with the club head, which includes aligning a sweet spot of a front, or ball-impact, face of the club head with the ball, (3) raising the club, desirably through an ideal path, in a motion referred to as the backswing, (4) locating the shaft of the club, upon completion of the backswing, in a transitional position behind the head of the golfer, (5) swinging the club forward from the transitional position, desirably returning through an ideal path in a momentum-gathering motion referred to as the downswing, (6) directing the sweet spot of the front face of the club head into impact-engagement with the ball to drive the ball along a desired trajectory and direction, and (7) moving the club away from the impact area and around the opposite side of the golfer's body into a final follow-through position behind the head of the golfer.
The combined motions of the backswing, downswing, and follow-through described above are referred to as a full or complete stroke or a full or complete golf swing. Typically, several strokes by the golfer are required to advance the ball along a path, commonly referred to as the fairway, between the tee and the green, and to its ultimate destination in the cup. Once the golfer's ball rests inside the distance from the cup which requires a full stroke, the golfer begins using shorter strokes in which the backswing completion position and the final follow through position fall short of the same positions in a full stroke. The shortest strokes are employed once the golfer's ball is around or on the green and are referred to as chipping and putting strokes.
When the golfer addresses the ball with the ball-impacting front face of the club head (hereinafter referred to as the club face), the sweet spot of the club face is preferably adjacent and aligned with the ball as noted above. As the golfer begins the backswing, the club head is moved through an arc away from the ball, but desirably maintains an initial arcing alignment between the club face and the ball. At some point during the initial segment of the backswing, there is some degree of rotation of the club shaft such that the club face loses its arcing alignment with the ball. Normal human anatomy does not permit a full swing of the golf club without this club shaft rotation.
As the golfer swings the club through the downswing of the stroke, the golfer must effectively rotate the club in the reverse direction, preferably just before impact with the ball, to return the club face to arcing alignment with the ball. Preferably, following movement of the club through the backswing and downswing, the golfer should return the club face through the ideal path to the impact position, with the momentum necessary to effectively strike and carry the ball in an ideal trajectory and distance. Following impact, the club face maintains an arcing alignment with the ball for a short distance, followed by a club shaft rotation in an opposite direction from that which occurred during the backswing. This rotation is necessary given the limitations of human anatomy so that the club may be moved to the final follow-through position.
While it is a practically impossible to accomplish a perfect golf swing each and every time a golfer swings the club to impact the ball, several professional golfers seem to accomplish a near perfect swing on a reasonably consistent basis. Even so, there remains a need for a device and methods that will enable the golfer, or any one swinging an implement, to swing the club or other implement more consistently along an ideal path.